Ben Fong-Torres

Ben Fong-Torres is an American rock journalist, author, and broadcaster best known for his association with Rolling Stone magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. He was a real-life character in the 2000 movie, Almost Famous, and the subject of the award-winning 2022 documentary on Netflix, Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres.

He was honored by the Critics Circle Awards as one of the nine “most compelling living subjects of a documentary, alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci, Rita Moreno, Val Kilmer and Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Fong-Torres, who graduated from San Francisco State University in 1966 with a B.A. in radio-TV-film, was a writer and senior editor of Rolling Stone nearly from the magazine's inception. He conducted interviews of entertainment figures including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Steve Martin and Linda Ronstadt. He also profiled Elton John, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, Bonnie Raitt, Diane Keaton and Rodney Dangerfield. A Fong-Torres interview with Ray Charles was awarded the Deems Taylor Award for Magazine Writing.

Fong-Torres was also a DJ for the pioneer San Francisco radio station KSAN-FM in the 1970s. He later hosted a live, weekly entertainment and talk show, Fog City Radio, on NPR affiliate KQED-FM. On television, he won five Emmy Awards as co-anchor of the Chinese New Year Parade broadcast on KTVU.

He has published ten books, including "Hickory Wind," a biography of Gram Parsons; "The Rice Room," a best-selling memoir; "The Hits Just Keep on Coming," a history of Top 40 radio, and two compilations of past articles, "Not Fade Away" and "Becoming Almost Famous." His book with the Doors "The Doors By The Doors" was published in November 2006, and he published "The Grateful Dead Scrapbook" in 2009. Fong-Torres authored "Eagles: Taking It to the Limit" and "Willin': The Story of Little Feat."

For 15 years beginning July 2005, Fong-Torres wrote the column "Radio Waves" in the San Francisco Chronicle. He has written for numerous publications, including GQ, Esquire, Playboy, MOJO, Parade, Travel + Leisure, and the New York Times. Since 2016, he has been program director and DJ for the online Moonalice Radio.

Fong-Torres was inducted into the SF State Alumni Hall of Fame in 2004. He is also a member of the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. He and Dianne, his wife, live in San Francisco.